2008 Engrave-In and Fish-O-Rama

[pilkguns]

plans are already underway for next years Engrave-In. I'm getting interesting seminars lined up and we are underway with additional outside entertainment. You can see from the below pictures the pond we just dug from the spring right below our house. At the present time, the water is about 3 foot deep and should be around 11 feet deep when its full. All the water that is in there now is from the spring, although its pretty muddy as it is filling up. The orange canoe in the water is about 16 feet long to give you some perspective.

We will be stocking it with catfish, brim, smallmouth and hopefully lake trout if the water will stay cool enough. Perhaps Ray Cover can give us all a seminar on fly fishing and give all of us one of those engraved rods as a participation gift :^)

Got a nice tree to hang a rope from, so will have a dandy rope swing with about a 50 foot arc for those that want to get wet too.

 

[Tim Wells]

I can tell you from first hand experience, if you cut Ray loose with a fly rod you won't have any fish left. Better have some backup waiting in a nearby hidden pond.

 

[Ray Cover]

Well there aint gonna be any staying home now. That is my one true addiction.

If your gonna have a pond full of trout I definitely will be bringing a fly rod.
I will catch and release I promise.

Looking at your set up you may actually be able to keep rainbows or lake trout in there. It looks like the hole is just right off the spring. If the spring has a fairly good flow and those trees around there provide decent shade the lower level of the pool should stay cool enough. It may not be cool enough to breed but should certainly stay cool enough for trout to survive and grow.

Are you planning any gravel and vegetation in the bottom to help control water clarity? If you could transplant some crawfish and aquatic insects it would help a lot too.

Ray

 

[Weldon47]

Ray,

If you bring one of your fancy fly rods I bet those trout will take turns jumpin outa the water & up onto the bank just to have a look!!! Seriously, your work on the fly rod you made was beyond exquisite!

Scott, hope I can make it next year too,

Weldon

 

[Ray Cover]

Weldon,

Thanks for the compliments.

If you can at all make it to Scott's you should. Last year I went to Scott's because I was already in the neighborhood with the Blade Show. It was such a good time that this year I am going to the Blade Show because I will already be in the neighborhood going to Scott's engrave in.

 

[Sam]

If your gonna have a pond full of trout I definitely will be bringing a fly rod.
I will catch and release I promise.

You catch 'em and I'll release 'em...into a hot skillet.
~Sam

 

[pilkguns]

I think part of next years demonstration will be Sam demonstrating the proper preparation of a skillet for frying trout, first by engraving that new border he just showed a couple threads back all around the perimeter of the skillet before applying heat and butter.

 

[KSnyder]

Scott, check with your extension agent about the lake trout. I seen lots of trout ponds up in Michigan & most of em' stock rainbows. Lakers are a more open water fish, cousins of brookies but much larger.
I like eating fish about as good or better than catchin' them.
I would like to see Sam engrave an iron skillet!
Kent

 

[jlseymour]

Ray Catch-um I Clean-um, Sam Cook-um...
Scott look foward to this next year and what we gonna do if Ray can't catch-um???

JL Seymour

 

[Ray Cover]

I'm bringing some of those 8" bang sticks. We'll have fish

....and Scott's pond might a little deeper when were done

 

[Tim Wells]

Sam, Do you have to anneal cast iron before you engrave it???

 

[Sam]

Tim: The frying of the fish should provide sufficient annealing for engraving. / ~Sam

 

[Tim Wells]

I don't want no cotton pickin' metal chips in my trout so it's a good thing you're doing it afterwards.

As an aside, that wax you sent is absolutely perfect for what I want it for, just the right firmness and tackiness. I'll be sending you something in the next day or so that I found in my stash. I have 2 of these books and thought you needed one of them. It'll be a surprise.

 

[pilkguns]

Here's view of today's snow on the recently filled up pond. The picture is taken from my engraving shop in the cupola at the top of my house.

 

[Roger Bleile]

An engraving cupola!!! I can't wait to see that. Maybe my engraving would improve if I moved out of the basement. I won't be engraving much for a day or two though. I have shoveled my driveway 4 times and the snow is still coming down and I can hardly lift my arms!

 

[jlseymour]

Ya'll so lucky to have all that Snow, most of us in Florida have to travel so far north to see snow except our snowbirds and they only sing in Florida in the winter...
We gonna have some fun catching those big fish and more fun eating after Sam cooksum...
Maybe we want have to bring water with all that snow...
Jerry

PS: The only snow we may see is what falls off the big trucks that collects on their way south and it falls off their trucks...

 

[JCP]

Neat little pond Scott.

IF you put catfish in it, it will probably always be muddy.